It's a narrative essay based on a conversation with Helen Sula, travel blogger and author of Trevi Fountain at 2pm on a Tuesday: Exploring Unconventional Living Abroad.
It has been edited for length and clarity.
I grew up in Dallas, but my parents taught study abroad programs there, so my family spent time in London every year.
They loved their jobs, they were contributing, and they had flexible schedules. I remember thinking, “Is there a job like this for me?”
I graduated from college in 2009 during the financial crisis. I had no idea what to do with my life, so I took my first job at Dave and Buster's.
During this time my husband and I spent 10 days traveling through Europe and had trouble sleeping as we were trying to see as much as we could.
Seurat and her husband traveled throughout Europe before settling there. Helen Seurat
We thought the best way to continue traveling in Europe would be to move there, but we didn't know how. Europe had always fascinated me. It was always in the back of my heart.
In 2011, I started a travel blog called “Helene In Between.”
I wondered if I could make money from it, but at the time no one was making money online.
I continued hacking, trying different methods with my blog and failing until I finally found a way to monetize my blog.
Blogging gave my husband and I the freedom to move abroad, and in 2016 we moved to Heidelberg, Germany without ever setting foot in Germany.
Moving to Europe was not a utopia
Before we arrived in Germany, we spent a year researching where to move.
All my previous trips were to big cities, but this time I went to a smaller city and saw things I'd never seen before.
It felt like a completely different world, like Harry Potter's first visit to the Wizarding World.
Seurat explored the ancient buildings and castles of Germany. Helen Seurat
We were filled with excitement, and then, of course, reality set in. Everything was different, the language was different.
Every place on earth has its pros and cons, and I often see people online saying things like, “If I move to Europe, my life will be better.”
Living your life saying, “If this happens, I'll be happy,” is a recipe for disaster. Wherever you go, there you are. Problems and troubles are bound to arise. It's really beneficial to keep an open mind and see what you can learn.
Europe is often seen as a utopia, with its great healthcare systems and workers having more time off, and there is some truth to that.
But it would be a mistake to make a blanket statement about Europe: life can be tough anywhere.
Living in the UK
After three years in Germany, we moved back to the US.
We bought a camper and traveled around the US, spending time with family in Dallas.
Four years later we moved to Oxford, England.
Oxford is so great because in my opinion it is very similar to Heidelberg: both are university towns, Heidelberg has the oldest university in Germany and Oxford has the oldest university in the entire English-speaking world.
It's close to London and the airport so it was the perfect choice.
My plan is to stay in the UK for two years and then come back to the US and start exploring in earnest. I've never been to Australia, New Zealand or South America so I'd like to do longer trips to other places.
There are always more places to explore.
What's so interesting about living abroad is that there are ups and downs. There are the greatest joys and the worst sorrows. You miss your friends and family back home. You often feel lost when translations don't work, you get lost while driving, and the rules are different.
But it was always worth it.
